Front cam chain guide fell out with oil

I was changing the oil in my 1977 KZ1000A over the weekend. When I was transferring the oil from the pan to the jug I use to take the oil to recycle I noticed a peice of metal in the oil. I was not sure what it was until I looked in the manual and identified the part as the front cam chain guide. Black metal peice about 1 3/4in long and about 3/8 inch wide(guessing size from memory).

My bike has been running awesome. There is no cam chain noise. I pulled my cam cover to check things out and the chain is tight, no slack. The chain does not appear to come close to the case anywhere because of the sprockets/idlers.

Can I continue to run the bike without it? Has anyone else done this? I have heard of horror stories of people losing all their valves when this happens but I imagine that is because the peice got caught up in the chain somewhere when it broke. Mine fell straight to the bottom and came out with the filter.

If i do have to replace it, how big of a job am I looking at?

What happens is: the chain rubs on this part and it wears to the point that it breaks at the 90 deg arm where the fastener goes in.

NO, you cant just ride it. The chain will start to eat on the cylinder and aluminum flakes and debris will be produced, contaminating the engine.

You need to repair this. You will need to pull head to do it......sorry - :pinch:

Gaskets, all the cam chain items... gears, rubbers, labor, rings, valve job. You wont know until the engine is broke down and inspected. It is very hard to find a mechanic or machine shop that knows these engines and can complete a proper fix or rebuild. Many stories about hacked up engines.

These bikes once engine is broke down can sneak up on the wallet pretty quick.

You might be looking at a couple hundred to a thousand or more to fix. Depends if you can handle it or if you have to shop it. I think shops are about $80 to $100 bucks per hour?